by Bob Dylan
(Columbia)

I didn't think Bob Dylan would make a great single-qua-single again, especially in 2009. But the guy's always been full of surprises. "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" isn't a great song, necessarily—the lyrics, cowritten with longtime Grateful Dead songwriting partner Robert Hunter, are fairly clever but never knockout, which you'd have reasonable expectation for given the two men's pedigrees. But that doesn't matter nearly as much as the way this record swerves. It's a bluesy samba with skeletal trumpet and accordion making it slip and slide even more. You can dance to it—and just as much to the point, I bet the 68-year-old Dylan can, too.

by New York Dolls
(Atco)

David Johansen still has some moves himself, especially reteamed with original Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain and a handful of younger players. I hadn't figured on caring at all about their new album—the second since a 2005 reunion at Morrissey's behest—until I heard it, and it's become an unexpected standby. What's most surprising is how natural it sounds, as if the Dolls had stayed together, moving personnel around, instead of splitting in 1975—and more important, stayed good, or at least alert. The album's title track has some of the loud crunch that made them great to begin with, and Johansen's voice can still stomp as hard as the beat.

by Sonic Youth
(Matador)

This opening track from new album The Eternal, leaked to blogs last month, is brisk—two minutes, 11 seconds—and basic. Not just because of the opening guitar clunks, but because once past them, the band settle into a speedy groove that's as instantly familiar as the skronked-up six-strings. The reason they still sound so good to me, especially in this mode, is that Steve Shelley's drumming still pushes and the guitars still sound ugly-beautiful.

by Raphael Saadiq
(Daytrotter.com)

Raphael Saadiq took his deeply pleasurable show to the Showbox at the Market a while ago and is scheduled to play Bumbershoot this year, so here's a taste while we wait: four songs from last year's The Way I See It recorded sans overdubs or backing vocalists. Without the expert production that marked Way, the songs still sound sturdy, affectionate, and committed, and so does the band, especially on "Big Easy" (no horns lets it breathe easier) and "100 Yard Dash," where ghostly out-front organ gives the elbowy groove some padding.